


god rest ye merry hippogriffs (let nothing you dismay)

by mollivanders



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Holidays, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-30
Updated: 2010-12-30
Packaged: 2017-10-30 11:02:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/331058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollivanders/pseuds/mollivanders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Sirius and Lupin had given Harry a set of excellent books entitled 'Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts' which had superb, moving color illustrations of all the counterjinxes and hexes it described. Harry flicked through the first volume eagerly; he could see it was going to be highly useful in his plans for the D.A.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	god rest ye merry hippogriffs (let nothing you dismay)

**Author's Note:**

> **Title: god rest ye merry hippogriffs (let nothing you dismay)**  
>  Fandom: _Harry Potter_  
>  Rating: PG  
> Characters: Remus/Sirius  
> Summary: For superkappa at the [Winter Wonderland of Fic](http://mollivanders.livejournal.com/221316.html). She requested Remus and Sirius picking out their joint gift for Harry in _Order of the Phoenix_. Word Count - 912.  
>  Spoilers: Through _Order of the Phoenix_  
>  Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter. I own nothing.

_Sirius and Lupin had given Harry a set of excellent books entitled 'Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts' which had superb, moving color illustrations of all the counterjinxes and hexes it described. Harry flicked through the first volume eagerly; he could see it was going to be highly useful in his plans for the D.A._

Remus was _trying_ to concentrate.

Unfortunately for him, Sirius was currently resting his head on Remus’ shoulder, staring at the bookshelf below the one Remus was perusing. More unfortunately, Sirius’ cologne was tickling at his senses and this close to the full moon, Remus had a very uncivilized instinct to satisfy other senses.

“Is it absolutely necessary for you to be doing that?” he asked instead, a mite tersely, at which Sirius snorted.

“Yes.”

“I thought you wanted to get Harry something from Quality Quidditch Supplies,” Remus answered, speaking out of the corner of his mouth. This was necessary as Sirius was hiding under his Invisibility Cloak and Remus, aside from his general worn appearance, did not also want to give the impression of insanity.

“And how am I supposed to get anything when you’re over here with your nose in a book?” Sirius contended, standing up to nick the book Remus was examining.

“ _The Dark Arts and How to Defeat Them_ ,” Sirius monotoned before shoving the book irreverently back on the shelf (a nearby shopper looked at Remus, startled, before hurrying away). “Isn’t that a little elementary?”

“I thought we could get him something educational,” said Remus, a little hurt until Padfoot dropped his chin on his shoulder again. “He’s going to need all the information he can get.”

“Yeah, but he’s got Hermione for that,” Sirius pointed out. “If we’re going to get him a book, we should get him something… interesting.” Remus could practically feel Sirius’ eyes zooming across the bookshelf before leaping up to the top shelf to pull down a heavy volume that narrowly missed knocking Remus on the head.

In the process, the Invisibility Cloak slipped off Sirius’ head and another shopper gave a startled scream as she ran for the door.

“Completely unnecessary,” Remus muttered as Sirius bashfully pulled the cloak back on properly. “No doubt there’ll be an article in _The Daily Prophet_ tomorrow about how the mad Black is now shopping for Christmas.”

“Don’t be silly,” Sirius retorted playfully. “Don’t you know I’m a completely innocent singing sensation?”

“Oh yes, _The Quibbler_ ,” Remus intoned. “Full of fact and fiction, if only we could separate them.”

“You sound like Dumbledore,” Sirius teased from under his cloak where Remus could hear he was flipping pages excitedly. “What have you got there?”

“Um…” The book closed heavily on a finger and the air in front of Remus shimmered as Sirius jumped up in mild pain. “ _Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts_. Stick your head in here, Moony, you’ve got to check this out.”

“Unbelievable,” Remus answered before a hand appeared to pull him under the cloak, centimeters from Sirius’ head. It was warmer under the cloak, now with two of them, and Sirius’ breath on his throat didn’t help Remus’ concentration. “What’s so special about this one?” Remus asked, trying to focus.

“It’s got pictures,” Sirius affirmed and as Remus rolled his eyes, he added “and it’s got stuff that Umbridge woman would _loathe_ students knowing.”

“Nothing dark though,” Remus felt obliged to check, and Sirius shook his head. “Not that kind of magic, just… how to actually fight back.” The old gleam of rebellion shone in his friend’s eyes as Sirius flipped the book back open to show Remus a complicated spell, even for advanced wizards. “If he’s running that army thing all the time –”

“—good for him,” Remus interrupted,

“—yes, if he’s still running it, he should have everything he needs to teach them. Wouldn’t have guessed it myself,” said Sirius thoughtfully, “but he might give the Marauders a run for trouble and detentions if he keeps this up.”

Sirius drops the first volume in Remus’ arms before hopping up to reach the others until Remus hissed in his ear, “Do you know magic or not?” and Sirius chuckled ruefully. “It’s more fun this way,” he protested when Remus summoned the rest of the books and floated them over to the register, the jingle of Sirius’ coins dropping into his pockets along the way.

Remus still insists on paying for half the books on his own, a move that makes Sirius scowl all the way back to Grimmauld Place, trotting ahead of Remus as Padfoot to let him know. The Muggles passing them on the train must have thought Remus had a well-behaved dog, the way they kept shooting him appreciative looks, but Remus knew he was going to pay for it another way when they finally got home.

“I could have taken care of it,” Sirius rumbled when they get back inside Grimmauld Place and head for the sitting room to wrap the gifts. Sirius always insisted on hand-wrapping gifts, as though the magical way just isn’t good enough, and Remus is sure if things had gone differently, Sirius would have run away from the magical world for a spell, just to show a little more disdain for his parents way of thinking.

“You want to get in more trouble, Padfoot?” Remus asks lightly, taking out the wrapping paper and passing Sirius the scissors. He watches him chop carefully at the paper before reaching for the Spellotape.

“Yes,” Sirius answered with a grin and Remus figures he’s worth it.

“Finish wrapping,” he replied loftily before heading upstairs. “I have some gifts of my own to finish, when you’re done.”

He’s not at all surprised when he hears Sirius rushing to wrap the rest of the books with magic.

_Finis_


End file.
